


Solitudes

by ivorygates



Series: Across Five Aprils [10]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Daniverse, Episode: s01e19 Solitudes, Gen, Girl!Daniel, Major Character Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-05-30
Updated: 2007-05-30
Packaged: 2017-11-26 00:53:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/644745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivorygates/pseuds/ivorygates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It isn't Sam Carter who's thrown through the Antarctic Gate with Jack.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Solitudes

They spend less then five minutes on P4A-771. Long enough to walk through the Gate, see a nice bunch of trees. She's seen ruins in the distance and starts toward them. Something like the Wrath of God opens fire. Jack shouts for Sammy to dial the Gate. Whatever it is, it's targeting the Gate, trying to cut them off. They run like hell. Fire everywhere. It's hitting the Gate.

Sammy and Teal'c jump through. Jack throws her through. She hits hard. It takes her a moment to get her bearings. She feels around until she finds her glasses. One of the lenses is cracked. She can still see well enough to see something she doesn't want to see, though.

This isn't the Gateroom. It's a cavern made of ice. It's cold.  
  
She finds Jack. He's unconscious. He doesn't look good. She thinks his leg might be broken. Still breathing. She checks his pulse. Strong. Steady.

Sammy's their field medic. She's got most of the medical supplies. Where is she? Where's Teal'c?

She gets to her feet. It's a narrow cavern. Dead end at one end, steep narrow passage that leads to the surface at the other. Stargate. No DHD. No Sammy. No Teal'c.

She's past worried and on her way to panic now, but she knows that won't help. Sammy couldn't have misdialed, and if she did, they'd all be here together. Sammy and Mr. T went through first. She tries her radio. Nothing. She's almost about to try to wake Jack when he opens his eyes.

"Don't move," she says as Jack tries to sit up. He gasps. Groans.

"Your leg's probably broken," she says.

"My leg's _definitely_ broken," he corrects her. "So're your glasses. Now what's the bad news, 'cause unless they've redecorated the Gate Room I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."

She gives him the bad news concisely: Sammy and Teal'c aren't here. They can't be reached by radio. The two of them are at the bottom of an ice crevasse... somewhere. There's no DHD.

"I'm sure it's around here somewhere," he says easily, dismissing her fear as if it doesn't exist. "Now, you want to see what we can do about this leg?"

She turns out the contents of both of their packs. Supplies for three days. Basic cooking gear -- they'd been planning to camp on P4A-771. Thermal blankets. Guns, grenades, C-4, all her usual junk.

She's got a roll of duct tape. Jack raises his eyebrows.

"You never know," she says.

There's nothing to splint with. She pulls the armor plates out of her vest. They're flat. They'll do.

"You've done this before, right?" Jack asks. He's only half joking.

"Set bones, delivered babies… This your first broken bone?"

He smiles, but she can tell he's in a lot of pain. It will be better once the leg's set. "Ninth, if you count skull fractures."

"How'd you manage that?" she asks. She puts her hands on his leg, and starts to pull it straight.

She hurts him. A lot. She pretends it doesn't matter, and so does he. In between gasps of pain, he tells her about the last time he broke his leg. Iraq. Black ops. Before the Stargate program.

Back when he was married to Sara.

He tells her he managed to make it out because he needed to get back to Sara.

Finally she's done, or as done as he'll let her get. The leg is pulled straight, held between armor plates, cocooned in duct tape. It's the best she can do.

Afterward, he demands that she help him stand. Tells her firmly that they _are_ going to get out of here. No matter what. Jack is stubborn that way.

She wants to believe him, but she can't see how.

_I always thought I'd die somewhere warmer._

He balances on his good leg, leaning heavily on her shoulder. "Ah, a little paint, a couple of windows, maybe a fireplace in the corner…it'll be just like home."

#

She's folded their blankets and gotten him to sit down on them. She's looking for the DHD. It has to be here somewhere. Sunken. Buried. Shifted. Something. They've never found a Gate without a DHD. There has to be one.

She wouldn't wish this place on anyone, but why couldn't it be Sammy who was here? Sammy knows all about Gate technology. She doesn't.

Their only light source is their flashlights, and the little light that comes through the opening at the top of the crevasse. They're only using one at a time. She's so cold.

Sunken, buried, shifted...

_Shifted._

"Jack, I found it!"

He levers himself up. God, he's stubborn. She knows how badly that leg is broken. Drags himself over to see what she's doing. She's chipping her way down to it with her utility knife. He clutches at his chest. She doesn't need better light to see his face go grey.

"What's wrong with your chest?" she demands sharply.

"I think I cracked a rib, too. Didn't want to say anything. Thought you might try to splint it." He gives her a crooked smile as he pulls out his knife and starts chipping away at the ice beside her.

After a while he collects the chipped ice and goes off to make 'dinner.' They've already drunk all the water in their canteens. They're both carrying T3s in addition to a random assortment of minor medical supplies, but he won't take any. She doesn't want to think about what he's saving them for. As soon as she can uncover the DHD -- not long now -- they'll be able to get home. She just hopes Teal'c and Sammy are okay.

They eat. He doesn't look good at all. He's having trouble breathing.

It's getting even colder. The light that was coming down the shaft from above has faded. The sun is going down. He swears he's fine.

Afterward, they get back to work. She wants him to rest, but he won't. They uncover the top of the DHD. They uncover part of a Serpent Guard, too, who has obviously been here for a very long time.

Jack is coughing up blood. Broken rib. Punctured lung.

Home and safe. Just a couple of minutes. Home and safe.

The seventh symbol -- point of origin -- is unfamiliar, but she figures it out easily and dials with confidence. Six symbols light, flickering faintly. Not a good sign.

The seventh doesn't.

The Gate doesn't work.

_"No!"_ Her voice echoes off the ice. For a moment it's all she can do to keep from smashing the DHD. She takes a deep breath. Tries to think of what Sammy would do.

"It just... Maybe it just needs to be reset. The interface crystals hold a charge. If I can dig down to the control panel, take them all out and replace them again, it should reset. I've seen Sammy do it. I can do it."

She picks up her knife again. It's going to take hours to chip all the way down to the base of the DHD.

"Negative," Jack says. His voice is faint. Breathy.

_"Jack--!"_

"It'll be there in the morning, Indy. Time for bed." He tries for a light tone, but he can't quite manage it. He bends forward in agony, groaning, and when he straightens, there's blood on his mouth.

"Okay, Jack," she says. He has to rest. "Let's go to bed."

She spreads out one of the thermal blankets on the ice. She helps Jack lay down. He doesn't refuse the help, which worries her more. When he's down, he goes completely limp.

He's fainted.

"Oh god, Jack," she whispers, kneeling beside him.

They aren't going to get out of here. She has no idea where they are. She can't fix a DHD. Even if the SGC is looking for them, it could take them years to find them. They don't have years. He's dying. They're going to die.

She lies down beside him. Takes the other blanket and pulls it over the two of them. It will be warmer that way.

She leans her head against his side and wakes him up.

"Indy... much as I might... otherwise... think this is... nice..."

His ribs are in worse shape than she thought. She moves away, rests her head on his arm instead. "Sorry, sorry, sorry."

"Better." There's a pause. "We _are_ going to get out of here," he tells her.

She rests her hand against his hip. She doesn't say anything. She feels curiously peaceful. She doesn't think they're going to get out of this one. But she doesn't mind dying as long as she isn't alone.

As long as she's with Jack.

It's been a long time since she had a real family. Her memories of her parents are dim, walled off by horror. Nick... Nick betrayed her in some oddly complex way she still can't quite figure out. Abydos became home to her, could have been home for the rest of her life, but in a way that was because of Jack. He'd set them all free. Together they'd killed Ra. He'd let her stay behind. He'd lied for her. And when he'd had to bring her back to Earth again, he'd still been there. The only unchanging thing in her life.

She rubs her cheek against his arm. "You know, if we don't make it, I won't have any regrets," she tells him.

"I'll regret _dying_ ," Jack answers.

#

She wakes up a few hours later. She's too cold to sleep, even huddled up against Jack. She gets up and goes back to the DHD, tucking the blankets up warm around Jack before she goes.

It's slow work, chipping the ice away from the pedestal with nothing more than a knife. She doesn't have gloves, other than the plastic ones she carries to protect artifacts from the oil on her hands, and they don't do much to protect her from the cold. She has to keep stopping to warm her hands. Every half hour or so she comes back to check on Jack again. He's still unconscious. She sets up the stove, uses the Sterno to boil water, fills the canteens and uses them as hot water bottles to keep his broken leg warm. It's the first thing that will succumb to frostbite.

Frostbite is followed by gangrene. Gangrene is followed by death.

She works her way down to the pedestal. She's an archaeologist. She excavates. She's careful and precise. Sammy has showed her the inside of a DHD before. She knows that if you remove all the crystals and replace them, it should reset. It should work. They should be able to go home.

Should, should, should.

She can remove the crystals and put them all back in exactly the same places. You don't need to be an astrophysicist to do that. Just an archaeologist. Survey the site. Memorize the position of the artifacts _in situ._ Take them out and put them back exactly the way they were.

She can do that.

Once she gets the access door open, she has to get her pack. Get a drop-cloth, her journal. Take careful notes. Her hands are shaking with cold. She has to take all the crystals out before she puts any of them back.

Her broken glasses show her a blurred fragmentary world.

She has a pounding headache.

She replaces the crystals. She handles them carefully. It's cold. They might break.

Closes the door.

Dials.

Six symbols light, strongly this time, the way they're supposed to. Everything begins to shake. Pieces of ice fall from the cavern ceiling. The seventh...

Doesn't.

_"Work! Why won't you work?"_ she screams. This time she does hit the DHD.

"Indy." It's her radio. Jack. She loses her balance and slides down the ice.

He's lying in the blankets. "I'm usually the first one up," he says.

She doesn't want to tell him how long he's been unconscious.

"Drink this," she says, picking up the pot. She dips a finger in it, testing it. Just warm. The Sterno's gone out. "We've got one more canister of Sterno, and that's it." She helps him into a sitting position, holds the pot to his lips. "The re-set didn't work," she says, when he's finished drinking.

"So I heard. Time to go to Plan B."

"Which would be?"

"You take our supplies and walk out. Bring back help."

"Jack -- no!"

"Indiana, that's an order."

"You know I'm lousy at following orders."

"You'll follow this one."

"Why?"

"Because I'm asking you to. Please."

She hangs her head. "Just... Just give me a little more time. Maybe... Maybe I put it back together wrong. Anyway, I-- I should start in the morning. The light's already going. I'll start... I'm going to go back to work."

"Sure," Jack says. "Work."

She climbs back up to the DHD. Dials again, just to be sure. More shaking. But the seventh symbol doesn't light. She opens the access panel again. One flashlight is dead. She works by the fading light in the cavern, removing the crystals more quickly this time. When the light is gone, she turns on the other flashlight. She works quickly as it dies, replacing the crystals, making sure that each of them is seated properly, each in its proper place.

By the last of the light, she dials.

Shaking.

Nothing.

She closes the panel, weeping silently, her hands tucked into her armpits for warmth. When she's finished, she dries her face and crawls back to Jack, finding him by touch in the dark.

Sammy would have gotten him home. She knows it.

"I wish..." she whispers.

She doesn't know what she wishes.

#

The morning light wakes her. Jack is already awake. The pain, she guesses, has finally gotten too bad for him to sleep. He can tell from her face that it didn't work.

"Plan B," he says. Weak as his voice is, it still has that 'no argument' tone. She shakes her head, getting to her knees.

"Indy, I'm dying. Go." He's finally said it aloud. She's known it for ...days? But this makes it completely real.

She nods, getting to her feet. She won't make him beg.

She packs the rest of their supplies into her backpack and walks away. She doesn't look back.

#

The passage to the surface is steep and slippery. She chips footholds and handholds with her knife and uses it to anchor herself. She slips a lot. She keeps climbing. It takes her an hour. The temperature drops sharply the higher she goes. She reaches the surface.

Ice.

Nothing but ice.

One sun in the sky, and a sheet of ice that extends as far as the eye can see. It's colder than she can imagine cold could ever be. Painfully cold. The air hurts her chest every time she inhales. She'll freeze to death up here within an hour.

There's no chance.

She feels... relief. Because she tried. She really did. She did what he asked, and there's no way. She can stay out here and die or go back down there and die.

She goes back down. On the descent she loses her balance and simply slides. It's rough, but it means she gets to the bottom in minutes. Badly bruised, but nothing's broken.

Not that it matters now.

She crawls back to where Jack is. "Jack?"

"Sara?" He doesn't open his eyes.

She puts a hand on his forehead. It's damp. Hot. "I'm here, Jack."

"Cold..." he whispers.

She bends down and kisses his forehead. "It's going to be all right now, Jack. I won't leave you again." She slips off the pack and works herself carefully under the blanket.

#

"Dani! Wake up! Dani! _Dani!_ " Sammy is calling her name. She opens her eyes.

"Sammy? You came through the Stargate."

Sammy smiles. "Not exactly."

She's strapped to a stretcher. They're levering her up through the crevasse with ropes. "Jack. He's bleeding inside."

"We know," Sammy says. "He's going to be fine. You're both going to be fine."

#

Later she finds out the whole story. They were home all along. There was a second Stargate on Earth. In Antarctica. That was where they were. Not on an ice planet millions of light-years from Earth. _Home._ If she hadn't kept trying to dial home, they never would have found them. Sammy says she figured it out from the 'busy signal' her attempts made at the Cheyenne Mountain Gate.

That's something.

She's up and around long before Jack is. He's looking at a couple of weeks in the infirmary, and more at home, though Dr. Warner -- their surgeon -- says she did a good job on his leg.

She goes to see him.

"Told you we'd get home," he says when he sees her. "You gotta learn to trust me on these things."

"Sure, Jack," she says.

She does trust him.

With her life.

#

**Author's Note:**

> You will notice that it's Dani, not Sam, taking the Antarctic vacation with Jack. Clearly this is because whoever Jack ends up in Antarctica with is the one he pairs off with at the end of the series. But mainly, actually, because (1) I set it up in "A Mirror For Observers", which is canon for the Daniverse AND SO ITS LIGHTEST AUTHORIAL ASIDE MUST BE JUSTIFIED BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAA, AND (2) if it had been Dani back at the SGC trying to figure out where Jack and Sam were they'd be dead now.
> 
> Dani, as we see, has realized that Jack is still fixated on Sara. As this is canonical, I can only wonder what changed later, since this is just about the last time Jack mentions Sara on-screen. It's also interesting, in "The Gamekeeper", that Charlie's death isn't presented as the most wrenching moment in his life. But I digress.
> 
> Notice also the (canonical) presence of the Sterno stoves. This strongly implies that although "The First Commandment" is the only overnight mission we see SG-1 on (at least the only intentional one), there have been a lot of others that we simply aren't seeing. If, in S1, there are nine teams, and the Gate is being activated at least three times a week, and several of those teams are going on missions that will occupy them for weeks or months ("The First Commandment", "Singularity", "Spirits"), then SG-1 has to be going places we aren't seeing (as is strongly implied in "Touchstone"). So... camp away, campers!


End file.
